


Silent Curiosity

by musesmistress



Category: NCIS
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-14
Updated: 2013-02-14
Packaged: 2017-11-29 06:57:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/684130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musesmistress/pseuds/musesmistress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>No dialogue prompt on lfws.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Silent Curiosity

Kate sighed and pulled her sketchbook out of the drawer and picked up her pencil, she’d only draw the basics of her images right now and fine tune them later. Quiet days like this were rare and she savoured the moment to catch each person in her team off guard and in their most relaxed moments. Not that Gibbs could ever be classed as relaxed. Either way, she quirked a brow at the three men wondering where to start just as Abby came bouncing around the corner from the lift.

It always amazed her how Abby could be so alert and bubbly at every hour of the day, causing her to wonder just what it was that kept her going. Cafpow mostly, she guessed, Cafpow and Redbull. It would take a desperate act to get her addicted to that, then she’d have to ask someone to shoot her before it got too bad. Either that or she’d go completely crazy. Some mornings, Kate thought that she could go down to Abby for a mental boost, the caffeine high the woman was on usually was rubbing off on her and giving her enough energy to make it through the morning.

She let the conversation between Abby and Tim wash over her, only looking up from her book to take note of what Abby was wearing, how she stood so close to McGee and that little flash of deviousness as he suggested something out of character. She’d never had thought it possible when she first met Abby, but the woman was amazing, sharp and fun, amazingly talented and completely out of place wherever she was. That just made her more brilliant.

The sudden thought of her letting Abby dress her up one day made her grin, she had to question if she’d end up in leather or a very short skirt and boots that only a crazy person could walk in. She imagined herself with a silver wig on too, though she couldn’t exactly explain why. Curiosity would probably win and next time she was alone with the crazy Goth, she’d have to ask what she’d do.

She smiled as she flipped the page and started the drawing of McGee. Her mental image of him sitting behind his desk, pouty lip and creased brow keeping the smile lingering. Second in computer knowledge only to Abby, McGee had his own level of genius and she’d never let him forget it. Despite the fact she picked on him and even joined Tony in teasing him, she knew the man was more than capable to do anything thrown his way. She’d always hope that all the teasing and playing she and Tony pelted him with would only make him more confident in that belief.

He stuttered when nervous, which was probably Kate’s biggest weakness with him, the time she’d take pity and help him or at the very least point him in the right direction. He was still young, had plenty of time to learn, time to try new things and experience everything that the world could offer, they just needed him to give it a go and not be afraid of the down sides that inevitably came. Especially in this job, though with Gibbs as a boss, she couldn’t completely blame him for being so frightened of repercussion. But again, everything was done to try and better him, as they did for each other.

He wasn’t a weak man, sparring sessions were proof of that, he could hold his own when push came to shove, but as with everything else, he lacked the courage to put a move into action. Then again he was also too much of a gentleman to strike out at a woman, even if she was hitting him. It had taken a few sessions of goading a reaction from him to get him to fight back properly.

Abby was gone when she looked up and in her place Ducky had slipped in, taking a seat next to Gibbs and leaning in close to discuss something obviously not work related. The next gin and poker night perhaps. Turning the page she switched pencil and started to draw the pathologist. She loved Ducky, it had taken her a long time to get used to calling him by the nickname, but then again, it took a while to adjust to someone who more often than not called her Caitlin, someone other than her mother. It made him feel very much like a father, even though she knew that was silly. She had turned to him a few times in the past, asking advice or going to grouse when Tony’s comments touched a little too close to home for her liking. He was a great man, gentle and sweet and with such a varied and exciting past that there were so many stories she wanted to hear.

He could always make her smile, a story at hand, a witty remark or a comment about his mother. There weren’t many men his age who would admit to living with a parent, but she knew only too well he did so because she needed him, not the other way around. Kate always found herself curious about Ducky when he was younger, smart and very handsome, he would have had the pick of any woman and yet, he chose none of them, perhaps none of them had been right for him, she didn’t know and couldn’t quite fathom him out through the hard lines of his face. Even as she drew them in later she’d find her brow creased and her mind brushing over so many questions she would love to ask him, if only it was polite to do so.

She turned the page just as Tony gave a cry of joy, the conversation with someone on the phone obviously enjoyable or going very well in his favour. Kate watched him for a moment, an enigma, a boy trapped in an aging man’s body and the everlasting question – why? Was his behaviour just a way of keeping people away, or was there something simpler or even more complicated behind it? Beneath it all, he was a brilliant man and she knew one day, when he finally learned to grow up, he’d make someone very happy and bring up a few great kids. Kids she hoped he wouldn’t teach to be like he is now. It occurred to her more than once that she could be thinking it the wrong way around – it wasn’t that he needed to grow up first, he needed to find the right woman first and she’d have the effect on him that could turn him into a real man.

Over the last year or so, he’d become a brother to her, in a sense and that was really the very last thing she needed – another brother as if hers weren’t enough to handle as it was. Either way, she cared for him like a brother, annoying and pesky and sometimes stupid as he was, she’d do what she could for him, help him if he needed help and be there to, hopefully not play nurse for, but help him get well again if he became sick. Though the last thing she’d do for him is tell him he was right. Ever. About anything. Stroking his ego was not in her job description and she intended to keep it that way.

He complimented Gibbs, in a way, trying to copy him, trying to be like him, only without the bastard attitude (though sometimes he failed there) and less ex-wives (any many, many ex-girlfriends). Sometimes she was shocked at just how much he could mimic Gibbs’ way of thinking, mostly when Gibbs himself wasn’t around to witness it.

Thinking of Gibbs made Kate look up towards him, it was a slight shock to find him watcher her and she quirked a brow at him as he smiled. For a moment she wondered what was going on, she’d obviously missed something, Ducky had gone, Tim was no longer in his seat and Tony was lingering in the middle of the bullpen, his eyes watching the monitor that held a news report. Shaking it off, she flipped to the next page and set up a profile picture of Gibbs. 

Leroy Jethro Gibbs. His silver hair had always confused her, he never seemed that old, always able body and bright of mind and despite his technophobia he still managed to keep up with the modern lingo, well most of the time. Unless Tony was saying it. He had a deep past, a horror she couldn’t quite put a finger on, a hidden tragedy he either wouldn’t or couldn’t talk about and it intrigued her to no end. She wanted to know what had changed him, what had taken away the man he once was and she had no doubt in her mind that there was a heart inside that hard exterior.

She’d always imagined him as a caring man, someone who talked about his feelings. Someone who once upon a time had told a woman he loved her and truly meant it. She’d have loved to meet the woman, go back in time and find out what he was like, if they had children and above all, what happened to change him. Not that who he was now was horrible, she still found she cared for him regardless and she knew he worried about her if she was late or absent all together.

He’d trained her well, teaching her his rules and methods and she’d learned a lot just watching him. But the more she watched him the more she found herself wanting to know more about him, about who he really was. The man three or four women had married, what was their reason for the divorces, had it been them being too picky, not really understanding him or had it been something he did – or hadn’t done. She had to admit the amount of times he didn’t do something or say something that could have helped was frustrating, but then again, that’s what made him Gibbs.

She turned to look at him again, studying the lines of his face, worry and age mixed with just enough wisdom and calm to make him seem like he’s seen everything in the world. He was just story telling short of beating Ducky. She knew she’d be working on Gibbs’ picture first, late, at home she’d been sitting there pencil in hand trying to work out the man’s life from the lines on his face and the colour of his hair.

Kate jumped as her phone rang, and she took a deep breath, listening as Gibbs answered his phone and their quiet, relaxing day turned into something rushed and jumbled. She stuffed the sketchbook back in the drawer, closing off her thoughts as she shut and locked her desk and grabbed her things to follow the guys.


End file.
